Trial NCT04333420
Publication Vlaar APJ, Lancet Rheumatol, 2020 (published paper)
Dates: 2020-03-31 to 2020-04-24
Funding: Private (InflaRx GmbH)
Conflict of interest: Yes
Methods | |
RCT Blinding: Unblinded | |
Location :
Multicenter / The Netherlands Follow-up duration (days): 28 | |
Inclusion criteria | age 18 years or older; severe pneumonia with pulmonary infiltrates consistent with pneumonia, a clinical history of severe shortness of breath within the past 14 days, or a need for non-invasive or invasive ventilation; severe disease defined as a ratio of partial pressure of arterial oxygen to fractional concentration of oxygen in inspired air (PaO2/FiO2) between 100 mm Hg and 250 mm Hg in the supine position; and SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed by RT-PCR. |
Exclusion criteria | Invasive mechanical ventilation for more than 48 h; improvement in PaO2/FiO2 of more than 30% in the past 24 h; known history of progressed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD; Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease [GOLD] group C or D); severe congestive heart failure (New York Heart Association class III or IV); known pregnancy; chronic dialysis, cancer, or other lifelimiting disease with life expectancy less than 6 months; renal replacement therapy; cardiac resuscitation in the past 14 days; organ or bone marrow transplantation in the past 3 months; anticancer therapy for oncological disease in the past 4 weeks; corticosteroid treatment equivalent to 10 mg prednisone or more per day; treatment with other biological therapy for COVID-19 in the past 14 days; or use of viral replication inhibitor in the past 3 days. Patients who were near death or expected to die within 12 h or with hypersensitivity to IFX-1 were also excluded. |
Interventions | |
Treatment
IFX-1 800 mg IV on days 1, 2, 4, 8 and 15. Two additional doses could be administered (one between days 11 and 13, one at day 22) depending on the patient's condition. |
|
Control
Standard care Definition of Standard care: Intensive care therapy according to current guidelines, evidence and best practice including but not limited to lung protective ventilation, thrombosis prophylaxis, renal replacement therapy when indicated and access to advanced therapies including extra corporal membrane oxygenation. | |
Participants | |
Randomized 30 participants (n1=15 / n2= 15) | |
Characteristics of participants N=30 Mean age : 60.5 22 males Severity : Mild: n=0 / Moderate: n=4/ Severe: n=8 Critical: n=18 | |
Primary outcome | |
In the register Change in PaO2/FiO2 [ Time Frame: Baseline to Day 5 ] Relative change (%) from baseline in Oxygenation Index (PaO2 / FiO2) to day 5. | |
In the report percentage change in PaO2/FiO2 in the supine position from baseline (day 1, before study drug administration and within 1 h before or after randomisation) to day 5 | |
Documents available |
Protocol NR Statistical plan NR Data-sharing stated No |
Risk of bias Overall The overall risk of bias reported in the table corresponds to the highest risk of bias for the outcomes assessed for the systematic review |
Some concerns |
General comment | In addition to all available versions of the published/preprint article, the study registry was used in data extraction and risk of bias assessment. This report is based on the results of a phase II trial; the sample size specified in the registry was not used "This was planned to inform the choice of endpoints and study population specifications for a potential phase 3 part of the study. For phase 2, we pragmatically set the sample size to 30 patients". There is no change from the trial registration in the intervention and control treatments. There is no change from the trial registration in the primary outcome however, mortality was not an outcome listed in the trial registry. Authors state in the discussion the limitations of the primary outcome reporting in the trial registry and say that even though it did not show a difference, treatment showed a lower rate in mortality, "which is consistent with a potential treatment benefit of IFX-1". Serious adverse events and total averse events were also not listed in registry. The study was funded by the drug company who made the drug, and they were also part of the authorship team. |